If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

I rank, or maybe not

I took a hiatus from Treeleaf for a while and during that time the book club and its study of koans moved on without me. Ah, I came back and have been trying to catch up. Back when I left the koan chapters moved slowly, a lazy river of zen contemplation, but now Jundo is cranking them out once a week or so, a damn Zen white water rapids. Anyway, I got stuck on a rock and he closes off those discussions stranding folks like me on lonely boulders, so I am here to throw out a line (ok, actually a couple lines) to any passing stranger on the Zen path alongside those rapids.

A man of no rank (#38) seems to me a lot like the precept about humility. If I am equal to you (whoever you are), then our rank is equal, and since I am equal to all then I (nor you) have any rank. True? I watched the dharma talk and when you asked for questions I raised my hand, violently. Hey Jundo, apparently your Zen mastery could not see me. What kind of rank is that?

Also, I have been trying to catch up to the current koan, but I like to read one and think about it a while, write about it a bit in my own journal after reading others' thoughts, and then proceed when I am ready. I know I could just skip ahead, but I want to do them in order, and then it hit me that maybe by doing them in order I was trying to "rank" them as accomplishments, which that koan says to drop. The need to finish a koan seems like its own koan, I know, and same with they must be done in order. I guess it's just another example of delusions we unknowingly carry around with us (37, 38, 39, 40…). Anyway, being a solutions oriented guy, I just flagged the ones I have missed and will try to get back to them when I can.

A long time ago (possibly in a galaxy far far away but probably not) I realised that the solution to the competitive nature of life that existed was to have no truck with it. By refusing to compete in the my car is better/faster/newer than your car thing (without falling into the 'I'm living with less than you' ego trap!) or 'my kids are doing better at schools than yours' game, you step outside of that system. Your car and children can then be enjoyed for what they are, and other people's too ("You have a new car and it makes you happy, good for you!"). Of course, it is impossible to achieve this completely but becoming a person of no rank seems to be a work in progress (at least it is for me and old habits die hard). Even the Buddhist path holds dangers for wanting to be a better student, complete koans the fastest/best etc.

For me, koans are something to be lived rather than solved. My koan teacher (confession, yes I have one) calls it 'keeping company with a koan'. Coming up with an answer is pointless unless it changes how you see things. Although I know it goes against the orthodoxy here and I may well be deluding myself, I find that koan practice and shikantaza work well together, just not at the same time! Also, the longer you keep company with a koan, the more it becomes part of you, just like with some Zen stories and teachings.

Happy rafting, Alan! Remember you don't have to ride each wave though!

Koans come and go, each Koan holds all Koans, no order of priority, nothing in need of catching up on or catching! No grades, no rank.

Thus, although some might pass and some will fail, all sentient beings "pass" no pass-no fail the impassable barrier. Take each one or all, all as one. Go infinitely deeply and sincerely into the Koan right before you (the Genjo Koan).

Alan,
It has been so helpful to me that Jundo prefaces each koan discussion with, "number 43 continues endlessly, and here comes number 44....." These vignettes seem to get under my skin and have a funny way of swimming back up into consciousness at interesting times. Some become favorites, like "Guishan calls Master" and the old woman who burned down the hut. I've even had occasion to write a few myself, kind of like a handle for a lesson I seem to need to revisit often enough. Some of my personal koans are titled "Manning Park," "Rengetsu at Wanda Lake," "Nothing Personal," and "What fresh hell is this?"

I don't know why, but I read this a couple days back, and I started thinking about it today. Although I've been participating in the koan study, I always feel like I haven't had my full say... so no matter what each koan never ends. It's like it adds another dimension to practice... it's another way to view things.

As Jundo says --> although koan (n-1) never ends, we start on koan (n).

It's good that we feel we have more to do.. it means we are growing.... we can see more and do more in our practice. There is no final word in Zen because Zen is alive... we can have our final word of Zen when we die I suppose. hahaah But Kannon has many arms, so she'll always be alive, finding new ways to practice through us.

To paraphrase Dogen from Genjokoan, if we feel full of dharma we are not practicing; we are practicing when we are hungry for Dharma.

Ok I stopped being lazy and looked up the quote from the Nishijima/Cross translation. lol

When the Dharma has not completely filled our body and mind, we feel that the Dharma is abundantly present in us. When the Dharma fills our body and mind, we feel as if something is missing.

Anyway thank you Alan... you've given me a new way to think about koan study that I would not have realized had you not posted this.

I agree, these koans do come back for me too. Suddenly weeks later, some circumstance will give me a whole new angle on it. But alas, then the thread is closed. I do think the book club needs to keep moving forward, but there's no reason we can't have a thread for any koan after the book club is locked, and come back to it as we gain new insights, and let newer folks chime in too. Actually, I'm not sure why the threads get locked, but I'm sure there is a reason... I imagine it's just to keep us moving forward together, instead of getting all strung out among the different koans?

Can I just say, I've never studied koans before, and I find everyone's insights sooo helpful. The book club is such a nice, gentle way to get into koan study. So grateful for you all!

I agree, these koans do come back for me too. Suddenly weeks later, some circumstance will give me a whole new angle on it. But alas, then the thread is closed. I do think the book club needs to keep moving forward, but there's no reason we can't have a thread for any koan after the book club is locked, and come back to it as we gain new insights, and let newer folks chime in too. Actually, I'm not sure why the threads get locked, but I'm sure there is a reason... I imagine it's just to keep us moving forward together, instead of getting all strung out among the different koans?

Can I just say, I've never studied koans before, and I find everyone's insights sooo helpful. The book club is such a nice, gentle way to get into koan study. So grateful for you all!

Nice.

Gassho
Lisa

Hi Lisa,

No reason to lock them. Maybe I will unlock them. Then you can unlock them in other ways.

Aha! The koan of multiple koans at once has been unleashed!
To take it all in must mean samsara abounds
Which must mean enlightenment threatens.

From what I understand of those old koans so far, some old Zen guy would SHOUT about here….

I like the koans. In general, I like narratives with messages, even more if they have some historical value, and even more if they also have some spiritual value that applies today. But more than all that, I like hearing the input of others on how all of that applies to them individually. To me, that's really what Treeleaf koan study is all about. I believe in the greater collective study rather than the individual perspective that is, by definition, a delusion.

People should sometimes just not read good old Dogen, but practice what he teaches!

Gassho

T.

Thank you Taigu. This makes me smile. For instance, I remember reading Mountains and Waters Sutra and being so confused. Just stuck in my intellectualizing, trying to figure it out. What does "mountains walking" and "mountains flowing" mean? Really trying to get a grasp on where the dharma was here - what was his point, his meaning? Then in the last couple weeks I've gone on several hikes. I hiked a mountain and in that was "mountains walking." In that were mountains flowing. Then there were mountains walking in my neighborhood when I walked the dog, or the dog walked me, the next night.

My bad, in another thread I talked about her views on being a Christian versus christianity. Somewhere else I read her distinction between being humble and humility. I can't find that now, but I did find this page of quotes on that topic.http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/au...a_angelou.html

a nice metaphor. I heard of a Asian person's surprised reaction upon first hearing the phrase "conquering a mountain" and told how in their tradition the mountain was characterized as lifting the climber's feet as they ascended.

gassho, oheso

You are walking the mountain, the mountain is walking you, there is just mountain walking mountain, mountain mountaining mountain, walking walks walking. All Buddha Mountain.

And as one walks ahead or stops to rest for a time, gets lost or finds a good path, moves smoothly or stumbles and falls in the mud ... all is Buddha Mountain. How does one try to "get to" Buddha mountain when one stands on ... nay, stands AS ... Buddha Mountain? Where is Buddha Mountain to search for Buddha Mountain?

Yes, we may get lost or fall ... but there is nothing to lose and no place to fall apart from Buddha Mountain. Nonetheless, we get up, dust off, try to find the trail again ... push on, making real progress with time. A climber of many years is better equipped to stay on the good trails ... not fall off the cliff or into the poison ivy ... than the neophyte climber of but a day (Thus, although there is no place to go and nothing to attain, we do get better at it! ) )

Some folks believe that Buddhahood is many mountains away ... and it will take many lives to reach there. Because they believe so, it becomes so.

Some folks find that Buddhahood was in every step, and the stepping itself ... but that there are ways to climb like Buddha and ways to climb like a fool. One may wander after mirages and go in circles, lost in Ignorance, Anger and Greed ... or one may find the Mountain as one's True Self, One's True Home.

We make real progess in discovering that the point of the hike was never the destination, but the hike itself ... each step by step the Total Arrival and Total Realization of Buddha Mountain.

And so with sitting Zazen, just sitting sits sitting with no place to go. 'Tis not our usual human "goal and destination" way of viewing life.

You are walking the mountain, the mountain is walking you, there is just mountain walking mountain, mountain mountaining mountain, walking walks walking. All Buddha Mountain.

And as one walks ahead or stops to rest for a time, gets lost or finds a good path, moves smoothly or stumbles and falls in the mud ... all is Buddha Mountain. How does one try to "get to" Buddha mountain when one stands on ... nay, stands AS ... Buddha Mountain? Where is Buddha Mountain to search for Buddha Mountain?

Yes, we may get lost or fall ... but there is nothing to lose and no place to fall apart from Buddha Mountain. Nonetheless, we get up, dust off, try to find the trail again ... push on, making real progress with time. A climber of many years is better equipped to stay on the good trails ... not fall off the cliff or into the poison ivy ... than the neophyte climber of but a day (Thus, although there is no place to go and nothing to attain, we do get better at it! ) )

Some folks believe that Buddhahood is many mountains away ... and it will take many lives to reach there. Because they believe so, it becomes so.

Some folks find that Buddhahood was in every step, and the stepping itself ... but that there are ways to climb like Buddha and ways to climb like a fool. One may wander after mirages and go in circles, lost in Ignorance, Anger and Greed ... or one may find the Mountain as one's True Self, One's True Home.

We make real progess in discovering that the point of the hike was never the destination, but the hike itself ... each step by step the Total Arrival and Total Realization of Buddha Mountain.

And so with sitting Zazen, just sitting sits sitting with no place to go. 'Tis not our usual human "goal and destination" way of viewing life.